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The nominations for the 19th BBC Music Magazine Awards have now been announced, featuring the best classical music recordings from the last year.<\/p>
Across nine categories, 27 recordings have been selected by our expert jury of BBC Music Magazine <\/em>critics. Of the nine winners, one will go onto be announced as our Recording of the Year. At our awards ceremony in April, we will also name the BBC Music Magazine Personality of the Year.<\/p> In the Orchestral category, we see an immersive survey of three Shostakovich symphonies<\/a> competing against an assortment of English works<\/a> and a debut recording of Thomas Ad\u00e8s\u2019s 2021 account of Dante\u2019s Inferno<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p> [PIC OF ORCHESTRAL CATEGORY NOMINEES]<\/p> In the Concerto category, there are further premiere recordings, with the Hall\u00e9\u2019s impressive gathering of large-scale works by Dobrinka Tabakova<\/a>, which is shortlisted alongside the Danish National Symphony\u2019s portrayals of Nielsen concertos<\/a> and violinist Isabelle Faust\u2019s period-instrument take of Stravinsky\u2019s Violin Concerto<\/a>.<\/p> [PIC OF CONCERTO CATEGORY NOMINEES]<\/p> As well as being shortlisted for the Orchestral Award, John Wilson and his Sinfonia of London also feature in the Opera category for their rendition of Rogers & Hammerstein\u2019s Oklahoma!<\/em><\/a>. They are up against an \u2018electrifying\u2019 recording of Puccini\u2019s Turandot <\/em>from Antonio Pappano and an all-star cast<\/a>, and Les Talens Lyriques\u2019 \u2018dazzling\u2019 performance of Lully\u2019s rarely recorded opera Psych\u00e9<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p> [PIC OF OPERA CATEGORY NOMINEES]<\/p> As ever, there is a wide range of works featured in the nominations for the Choral Award this year, with a collection of atmospheric choral works by Saariaho from the composer\u2019s native Helsinki Chamber Choir<\/a>; a well-considered new recording of Monteverdi\u2019s oft-performed 1610 Vespers<\/a>; and James O\u2019Donnell\u2019s \u2018unmissable\u2019 final recording as music director of Westminster Abbey<\/a>.<\/p> [PIC OF CHORAL CATEGORY NOMINEES]<\/p> Recordings of the complete songs of the Boulanger sisters<\/a> and lesser-known Baroque composers sung by the trailblazing countertenor Jakub J\u00f3zef Orli\u0144ski<\/a> are joined in the Vocal category by the solo recording debut of singer Julia Bullock<\/a> \u2013 a varied programme combining a traditional spiritual with songs by 20th<\/sup>-century singer-songwriters.<\/p> [PIC OF VOCAL CATEGORY NOMINEES]<\/p> In the Chamber category, there are offerings from Phantasm and the Calidore Quartet tackling Bach\u2019s Well-Tempered Consort III<\/em><\/a> <\/em>and Beethoven\u2019s Late String Quartets<\/a> respectively. Joining them are Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff with Lars Vogt in a recording of Schubert piano trios<\/a>.<\/p> [PIC OF CHAMBER CATEGORY NOMINEES]<\/p> Competing for the Instrumental Award are pianists Krystian Zimerman and Marc-Andr\u00e9 Hamelin, and guitarist Sean Shibe. Zimerman offers \u2018staggering virtuosity\u2019 in his set of Szymanowski piano works<\/a>, while Hamelin showcases the power and beauty of Faur\u00e9\u2019s piano writing with superb technique<\/a>. This is the second time Sean Shibe has been nominated in this category, following his 2018 entry for his debut solo album. This time, he takes a trip to South America to showcase some of the continent\u2019s most arresting music<\/a>.<\/p> [PIC OF INSTRUMENTAL CATEGORY NOMINEES]<\/p> Nominated for the Premiere Award are a \u2018beautiful, varied and enlightening\u2019 programme of overlooked solo viola repertoire by female composers by Rosalind Ventris<\/a>; a collection of premiere recordings spanning decades from Martin Jones, Rebeca Omordia and the BBC Concert Orchestra<\/a>; and a thrilling showcase of orchestral works by Missy Mazzoli<\/a>, performed by the Arctic and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestras.<\/p> [PIC OF PREMIERE CATEGORY NOMINEES]<\/p> Our final category is the Newcomer Award, celebrating a new artist who has made a splash in the classical music world over the past year with their debut recording. Soprano Alexandra Lowe and pianist Patrick Milne showcase their respective talents in Le Voyage<\/em><\/a>, a programme of French songs inspired by Greece, the Middle East and Spain. They are joined in this category by guitarist Rapha\u00ebl Feuill\u00e2tre, who reframed works by JS Bach and his French contemporaries<\/a> in an \u2018exquisite, joyfully presented programme\u2019. Pianist George Xiaoyuan Fu joins the line-up with his debut album Mirrors<\/em><\/a>, which pairs a dynamic range of works by composers including Ravel, Rachmaninov, Freya Waley-Cohen and Unsuk Chin.<\/p> [PIC OF NEWCOMER CATEGORY NOMINEES]<\/p> Our expert panel of judges was chaired by BBC Music Magazine <\/em>reviews editor Michael Beek. He was joined by the magazine\u2019s editor Charlotte Smith, along with regular critics Terry Blain, Jessica Duchen and Andrew McGregor.<\/p> Voting closes at midnight on Friday 23 February, with the winners revealed at our Awards ceremony at King\u2019s Place on Thursday 18 April. To cast your votes, head to classical-music.com\/awards.<\/p>Listen to the nominated recordings for the 2024 BBC Music Magazine Awards<\/h2>